Determiners / adjectives

Question

Hello! I have a query about the construction of these 2 phrases:

1) Why is it that we say:

It was a two hour walk. (hour is singular)
but
The walk was two hours long. (hours is plural)?

How are the words 2 hour(s) functioning in this phrase (adjective? determiner?!)

2) In this phrase:

'English language and skills evaluation' I guess English is an adjective, and evaluation a noun, but what are 'language' and 'skill'?

Thank you!!!!!!!

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

a two-hour walk - adjective.
two hours long - adverb of degree.

The adjectival form is hyphenated and singular.

a five-man team
a two-inch segment
a ten-dollar bill

(Adjectival forms are not pluralized in English. We don't say, for example, "the happies boys" or "the reds cars", but "the happy boys" and "the red cars". The same practice applies to adjectives like ten-dollar.)
________________

language and skills are noun modifiers of evaluation. Compound nouns (two or more nouns in succession) are very characteristic of the English language. The last noun in a series of nouns is the main noun. The nouns before it modify the main noun.

language evaluation ~ evaluation of language
skills evaluation ~ evaluation of skills
(The plural skills is unusual here -- as discussed above.)

You can find compound nouns in English by the thousands. Here are just a few.

farm machinery ~ machinery used on a farm
a picture frame ~ a frame for a picture
a book review ~ a review of a book
a door **** ~ a **** of a door
the weather forecast ~ the forecast of the weather
a song bird ~ a bird that 'sings' (has a pleasant call)
pork chops ~ chops (a certain cut of meat) cut from pork

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Hello CJ,

Thanks so much for your reply, it is really fascinating! I will do some more research on this subject.

Determiners / adjectives

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